[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 16 (Monday, January 27, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Page 8204]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-01757]
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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Department of the Army
Supplemental Final Environmental Impact Statement Addressing Heat
and Electrical Upgrades at Fort Wainwright, Alaska
AGENCY: Department of the Army, DoD.
ACTION: Public notice.
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SUMMARY: The Department of the Army (Army) is supplementing the Final
Environmental Impact Statement (Final EIS) addressing heat and
electrical upgrades at Fort Wainwright, Alaska. The current coal-fired
central heat and power plant (CHPP) and its aging heat distribution
system require an upgrade that resolves safety, resiliency, fiscal, and
regulatory concerns. After publication of the Final EIS Notice of
Availability (NOA) in the Federal Register on February 10, 2023, the
Army determined that additional analysis is required prior to the Army
executing a Record of Decision.
DATES: The Army anticipates publishing a NOA in 2025 for the
Supplemental Final EIS. The public will be invited to comment on the
Supplemental Final EIS.
ADDRESSES: Digital copies of the EIS documents are available online at:
https://home.army.mil/wainwright/about/garrison/public-works/environmental/national-environmental-policy-act-nepa/environmental-impact-statements/Heat-and-Electrical-Upgrades-Environmental-Impact-Statement.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Grant Sattler by: regular mail at
Public Affairs Office, AMIM-AKG-PA (Sattler), 1060 Gaffney Road #5900,
Fort Wainwright, AK 99703-5900; telephone at (907) 353-6701; or email
at [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Fort Wainwright is in the interior of Alaska
in the Fairbanks North Star Borough. Fort Wainwright is home to U.S.
Army Garrison--Alaska (USAG-Alaska) and units of the 11th Airborne
Division. The soldiers, families, and civilian employees who make up
the Fort Wainwright population rely on a 68-year-old coal-fired CHPP
and an aged heat distribution system to heat and power more than 400
facilities. The CHPP is one of the oldest working coal-fired power
plants in the United States and is operating beyond its design life.
Within the last decade, the installation has experienced critical,
near-catastrophic failures of the CHPP and unexpected, installation-
wide outages due to maintenance, repair, and operational issues.
Unexpected outages present substantial risk to safety and to
mission readiness. Constructing upgraded heat and electrical
infrastructure would reduce utility costs, minimize the risk of a
catastrophic failure, help safeguard mission readiness, meet energy
efficiency standards, comply with emissions standards, and conform to
Army-directed energy security criteria.
USAG-Alaska is proposing to upgrade its coal-fired CHPP at Fort
Wainwright to a more reliable and sustainable heating and electrical
system that would comply with Army installation energy security
requirements and with applicable air quality standards. The purpose of
the proposed action is to provide reliable heat and electrical
infrastructure for the installation in order to resolve safety,
resiliency, fiscal, and regulatory concerns. The Army needs to prevent
the potential failure of heat and power generation and distribution.
Such a failure could require evacuation of the installation and
severely affect mission readiness.
The alternatives the Army is considering are: (1) construction of a
new coal-fired CHPP; (2) construction of a new, dual-fuel, combustion
turbine generator CHPP that would be primarily fueled by natural gas;
(3) decentralization of heat and power, whereby heat would be provided
by distributed natural gas boilers at facilities across the
installation and electricity would be purchased from a local utility
provider; and (4) continued operation of the current plant with
periodic upgrades (i.e., the No-Action Alternative).
The Supplemental Final EIS will update: information regarding fuel
source availability, transportation, and infrastructure requirements;
information on alternative technologies; comparative greenhouse gas
emissions; and socio-economic impacts. Updates regarding greenhouse gas
emissions will reflect the Council on Environmental Quality's guidance
on considering greenhouse gases.
The Army anticipates publishing a NOA in the Federal Register in
2025 to invite the public to comment on the Supplemental Final EIS.
This process is consistent with 40 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)
1502.9(d) and 1503.1(b), and with 32 CFR 651.5(g)(1), 651.24, and
651.45(l).
No earlier than 30 days after publication of the Supplemental Final
EIS, the Army will sign a Record of Decision.
James W. Satterwhite Jr.,
Army Federal Register Liaison Officer.
[FR Doc. 2025-01757 Filed 1-24-25; 8:45 am]
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